22nd SPICE Meeting
49th ICECE Work Group Meeting

Belaya Tserkhov, Ukraine3 – 6 May 2000

The 2nd Annual Conference of UBICA, Ukrainian Business Incubators and Innovation Centers Association was held in Belaya Tserkhov, some 120 km from Kiev. This location was chosen because the city is home of the first functioning business incubator/innovation center in Ukraine. But this is not only the first incubator in the country, at the same time it is an example for entrepreneurship because it was built up by Nicolay Paal, and his wife Natalia with some support from the Soros Foundation, but mostly based on own (financial) resources. Nicolay Paal not only proved to be an excellent organizer, he also was a great host, making the stay for 153 participants from 15 countries enjoyable and fruitful. The conference included two special training seminars: Establishing and operating a business incubator, held by Polish experts under the lead of Krzysztof Zasiadly and Marzena Mazewska and a "first time" three-days seminar "Promoting and Supporting International Business Cooperation of Small and Medium Enterprises". This seminar was initiated by the SPICE Group in cooperation with ADT, German Association of Innovation Centers and supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economy. Trainers for the highly qualified and motivated 14 participants (selected through a public tender) where Franz Dietrich, Karl-Heinz Klinger and Heinz Fiedler. These events in Belaya Tserkhov resulted in high public attention (not only by the media) and gave a significant impulse for the development of UBICA. Igor Leleka, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Association and Yulia Kuznetsova, UBICA Program Director, can celebrate a success and good results of hard work.